Qatari Gay Rights - A Twit Twitters

Sheikh's required reading

The Chairman of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Bid Committee, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Al Thani, last month let his twitter followers know in unambiguous terms what he thinks of people who object to the host country’s laws banning homosexuality.

“It’s interesting that all of a sudden everyone who was anti-qatar2022 is now a gay rights activist. Glass houses, anyone?” he twote on December 14th. It’s interesting that anyone who expresses themselves on twitter seems to wind up sounding like a chat room bigot. Glass skulls, anyone?

On the same day he saw fit to further enlighten the world with his playground analysis. “People should stop using the topic of homosexuality as a scapegoat for their general (and discriminatory) attitude towards Qatar and the ME.” Yes, far better to use the topic to criminalise innocent people for their sexuality.

Or, as the site Gay Middle East puts it so well, the sheikh “does not understand why people may be slightly concerned by Qatar’s draconian laws against homosexuality. The issue is clear. Locking people up for 5 years because they are gay is a slap in the face of human rights. Allowing for gays and lesbians to be forced into hormone therapy in an attempt to cure them of their homosexuality is a slap in the face of human rights. Trying to entrap gays in Doha’s malls, streets and on gay chat rooms and websites by Qatari agents is a slap in the face of human rights.” 

According to his Facebook page, the Qatari royal family member personifies a "unique combination of sporting zest, serious professionalism and Arab heritage." Strangely they forgot to mention his "ill-informed prejudice, bloated ignorance, and a chronic fear of anything that his tiny mind can not understand". But that's more than you can fit into one twitter.